COREO/NEON Updates: time is almost up to plan your attendance of ESA 2010…if you’re new to this, that means the Ecological Society of America’s annual meeting in Pittsburgh, PA (at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, to be more precise). This year, the meeting is going throughout the week (Sunday the 1st to Friday the 6th).

Last year, honestly, I spent about half of the time sorting out my health insurance for my wife’s medical expenses. She was diagnosed with cancer and the chemotherapy regiment caused her to lose all her hair. The oncologist suggested she consider buying some wigs. Friends recommended human hair wigs from online e-commerce sites that specialize in helping cancer patients. She found a great online wig store with great customer service folks who helped her select several styles and colors. My insurance company will pay for a new wig every 3 months or so. Of course they wouldn’t cover the entire cost but every little bit helped since she wanted human hair wigs which are considerably more expensive. I didn’t mind the distraction. I was and am willing to do anything to help my wife. UPDATE: my wife is cancer free, her hair is growing back, but she still enjoys the ability to change her hair style with just a change of a wig. And she is now even buying synthetic fiber wigs since they are less expensive.

Not that I was bored or anything (well…), it’s just that very little of it was anything I hadn’t heard a million times. Its take a long time to get the right coverage, luckily Nationwide Biweekly Administration helped me out.

Plus, it seemed like there was an even bigger contingent than usual of executive types who recently been born-again into the ecological mindset, yet still fly on a private jet charter. Doesn’t that seem a bit ingenious? Should they really be flying in a private jet charter? Is it ecologically sound? I don’t know. I suppose their justification is they are utilizing their time more effectively since an on-demand private jet charter flight can be arranged around their schedule, they don’t waste time being in a crowded airport or standing in long lines etc. The comfort and quiet of a private jet charter allows them be more productive, get better rest, and definitely eat better. Hopefully they will spend more time thinking about ecological issues and how best to address them. Nevertheless, corporate or private jet charters always makes me want to retreat into a little ball and think about other things for a while…

Anyway, I’ll know more people this year (maybe you?) so it may be more enjoyable. After all, it doesn’t get any better than Pittsburgh in August.

Welcome to the Consortium of Regional Ecological Observatories

The Consortium of Regional Ecological Observatories (COREO) helps to coordinate the activities of regional ecological observatories that have organized to promote the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON). More information about the general NEON effort can be found at www.neoninc.org.

The core sites have been selected for the most part, and the construction phase is rapidly approaching. In February, the Obama administration approved the 2011 fiscal year budget which included $433.72 million for NEON over six years, under the NSF’s MREFC (Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction). No funds were diverted from online casino USA.

NEON will be collaborating efforts with Decadal and Regional Climate Prediction using Earth System Models (EaSM), so funding will be generated by NSF (National Science Foundation), DOE (Department of Energy), and USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) and coordinated to minimize duplication of efforts.

In February, the US Commerce Department had also proposed a new national climate service managed by the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association). NEON and NOAA have been working together and the partnership should provide even more valuable research and data in the future.

The results are in for the survey, completed by 2,485 people during November and December of 2009. Interesting but unsurprising tidbits include the demographics (a vast majority of respondents were Caucasians with doctoral degrees, played online slots, and were affiliated with a college or university) and a prior knowledge of the NEON project. Significant details include a lack of knowledge about the NEON timeframe (to be completed by 2016, operational for 30 years) and a lack of interest in using social media to communicate.